Home » Elon Musk’s Ultra-Horseshit Lie About Going To Mars
Elon Musk’s Ultra-Horseshit Lie About Going To Mars
Elon Musk’s Ultra-Horseshit Lie About Going To Mars Is A Smoke-screen Scam To Cover-Up The Fact That All SpaceX Does Is Launch Things That Spy On The Public
– Elon Musk: The biggest Asshole And Liar In the Galaxy?
The biggest joke in Aerospace is the idea that lying Elon Musk could ever get anybody to mars without killing them. All of Musk’s SpaceX money comes from launching, or blowing up satellites that spy on humans. Musk has no idea how rockets work. SpaceX is just another one of the endless ways that Elon Musk, Goldman Sachs, Tim Draper and Steve Jurvetson’s collusion cartel have scammed up to take taxpayer dollars and put it in their pockets.
China Will Soon Be Able to Destroy Every SpaceX Satellite in Space Instantly
To be fair, the technologies for anti-satellite and ballistic missile defense systems are very similar. Indeed, China has used the SC-19 missile for some of its past ballistic missile defense tests, as well as its direct-ascent anti-satellite (DA-ASAT) tests. Regardless of the precise missile employed, ballistic missile intercepts and anti-satellite missiles both use hit-to-kill technologies to accomplish their missions.
China will soon be able to destroy every satellite in space, a senior U.S. military official has said.
According to Breaking Defense , Lt. Gen. Jay Raymond, commander of the 14th Air Force, said this week that China’s amassing formidable anti-satellite capabilities. Raymond claimed that Beijing is already capable of holding every low-orbit satellite at risk, and “soon every satellite in every orbit will be able to be held at risk” by China’s anti-satellite (ASAT) capabilities.
Speaking at the 31st Space Symposium in Colorado Springs this week, Raymond also confirmed that China’s anti-satellite missile test last July was a success.
As I reported elsewhere , last July, China claimed it had successfully tested a ballistic missile defense system. However, a week later, the U.S. government revealed that the test was actually of an anti-satellite missile.
“We call on China to refrain from destabilizing actions—such as the continued development and testing of destructive anti-satellite systems—that threaten the long term security and sustainability of the outer space environment, on which all nations depend,” the State Department said at the time, Space News reported. “The United States continuously looks to ensure its space systems are safe and resilient against emerging space threats.”
It was not the first time that China had tried to conceal its ASAT tests. For example, in May 2013, China claimed that it had launched a rocket into space from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in southwest China. State-run media reported in 2013 that, “the experiment was designed to investigate energetic particles and magnetic fields in the ionized stratum and near-Earth space. According to a preliminary analysis by the NSSC [National Space Science Center], the experiment has reached expected objectives by allowing scientists to obtain first-hand data regarding the space environment at different altitudes.”
Almost immediately following the test, U.S. officials began raising questions about it, suggesting off-the-record that China had in fact tested a new ASAT missile: the Dong Ning-2 (DN-2). The DN-2 is a ground-based, high earth-orbit attack missile.
The available evidence strongly suggests that China’s May 2013 launch was the test of the rocket component of a new direct ascent ASAT weapons system derived from a road-mobile ballistic missile. The system appears to be designed to place a kinetic kill vehicle on a trajectory to deep space that could reach medium earth orbit (MEO), highly elliptical orbit (HEO), and geostationary Earth orbit (GEO). If true, this would represent a significant development in China’s ASAT capabilities.
To be fair, the technologies for anti-satellite and ballistic missile defense systems are very similar. Indeed, China has used the SC-19 missile for some of its past ballistic missile defense tests, as well as its direct-ascent anti-satellite (DA-ASAT) tests. Regardless of the precise missile employed, ballistic missile intercepts and anti-satellite missiles both use hit-to-kill technologies to accomplish their missions.
China also used the SC-19 missile to destroy an aging weather satellite in January 2007. China faced strong international condemnation after announcing that test. Since then, it has concealed its anti-satellite tests, including ones in 2010 and January 2013.
The military applications of ASAT missiles appear fairly obvious. China would seek to use the ASAT missiles to knock out U.S. satellites in order to degrade its C5ISR capabilities, rendering distributed U.S. military and allied assets unable to communicate or share information. The U.S. is seeking to counter China’s growing capabilities in this area in a number of ways, including through creating greater redundancy in its own systems.
SpaceX Admits They Will Kill Space Tourists And Postpones Flight Plans to Moon
SpaceX, the aerospace manufacturer founded by billionaire Elon Musk, is reportedly postponing plans to fly space tourists around the moon.
“A new timetable for the flight—now postponed until at least mid-2019 and likely longer—hasn’t been released by Space Exploration Technologies Corp., the formal name of the closely held company. The delay comes amid SpaceX’s own projections of a nearly 40% drop in launches next year from as many as 28 anticipated for all of 2018,” reports the Wall Street Journal.
Thomas Mueller, SpaceX’s Chief Propulsion Technology Officer blames the sharp decrease in launches on a lack of industry-wide product knowledge.
“People don’t think it’s serious enough yet to figure out how to use it.”
James Gleeson, a spokesperson for the space transportation services company, confirmed the delay to reporters and assured a launch will take place in the future.
“SpaceX is still planning to fly private individuals around the moon and there is growing interest from many customers,” Gleeson wrote.
The delay comes amid the return of three members of International Space Station Expedition 55 on Sunday morning following a 168-day mission, which received two SpaceX Dragon cargo spacecraft shipments.
SpaceX is An Unsafe Rich Boy Toy – Next space explorers must go boldly — and safely
Richard Hagar, Guest columnist
Elon Musk’s SpaceX Starship rocket explodes during disastrous test
SPACEX HAS HAD THE MOST FAILURES AND ROCKET EXPLOSIONS OF ANY CONTRACTOR FOR NASA
SpaceX’s failed test saw the top of the rocket blown off, sending plumes of gas into the air.
ELON MUSK’S SPACEX STARSHIP ROCKET RUPTURES DURING DISASTROUS TEST
It was tipped to begin test flights by the end of 2019, but SpaceX ’s Starship rocket has suffered a huge setback following a disastrous test.
The monster spacecraft partially exploded during a ground test in Boca Chica, Texas – and the whole thing was caught on camera by local space enthusiasts.
The failed test saw the top of the rocket blown off, sending plumes of gas into the air.
Speaking to The Verge , a spokesperson for SpaceX said: “The purpose of today’s test was to pressurize systems to the max, so the outcome was not completely unexpected.
The failed test (Image: Twitter)
Starship is SpaceX’s enormous spacecraft that’s designed to carry cargo and people into deep space in the future.
Back in September, Elon Musk , CEO of SpaceX claimed that test flights in low altitude could begin within the next couple of months, while Starship could reach orbit within six months.
However, the failed test casts doubt on these ambitious timelines.
While Musk hasn’t specifically commented on the failed test, in a reply to tweet about it, he confirmed that SpaceX is now focusing its efforts on a new prototype for the Starship, called MK-3.
He said: “[Mk-1] had some value as a manufacturing pathfinder, but flight design is quite different.”
Once deployed, Starship will be the world’s most powerful launch vehicle, according to SpaceX.
Space exploration in the 21st century offers the possibility to reach new frontiers, from developing a lunar gateway for deep space travel, returning American astronauts to the surface of the Moon and eventually putting humans on Mars.
With NASA preparing to return crewed astronaut launches to the U.S. for the first time since the end of the Space Shuttle program in 2011, and return astronauts to deep space for the first time since the end of the Apollo program in 1972, we are on the cusp of an exciting new era in human spaceflight and exploration.
As we prepare to launch new crewed spacecraft over the next several years, we need to honor the lessons learned from the tragedies of Apollo I, Challenger and Columbia. To successfully reach these next milestones in exploration, it is critical that core safety priorities continue to protect American astronauts and avoid unnecessary risks beyond those inherent to all launches and spaceflight.
I spent much of my career developing and supporting the Apollo program that landed NASA astronauts on the Moon. The experiences our engineers learned on the first Apollo launches shaped the steps in place today to ensure the safety of the entire team and success of the program.
Apollo 1 would have been the first manned flight, with astronauts Virgil “Gus” Grissom, Ed White and Roger Chafee onboard. That 1967 mission was supposed to be simple — fly the vehicle, fire the Module Engine and return to Earth.
During the second attempt to run the “plugs out test” with 100 percent oxygen in the command module, we held the crew in their position for several hours, trying to improve static filled communications. I was monitoring the test sitting beside the command module when a crew member reported a fire in the vehicle. I took two steps toward the white room when I heard the crew members’ alarm before the space craft erupted. The fire was quickly contained, but not before losing three incredible astronauts.
I was the first launch crew member to enter the spacecraft after removing the crew to try and determine if there was an obvious cause for the fire. After months of investigations by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), one specific cause could not be identified.
Thankfully, we learned from the disaster that day in January. Over the years and subsequent missions, our procedures changed, methods got better and we improved the process to put man in space. NASA human spaceflight programs carefully incorporated these lessons throughout their safety requirements and the talented men and women throughout the agency work hard to make spaceflight as safe as possible for astronauts.
It’s concerning to learn that some of the newer private space ventures launching today don’t appreciate the same safety standards we learned to emphasize on Apollo. Elon Musk’s SpaceX, for example, announced he intends to save time and money by fueling their Falcon 9 rockets after the astronauts board.
This “load and go” process allows SpaceX to inject more fuel without the cost or expertise necessary to build a larger rocket, but it may come at a heavy price. Mr. Musk already lost one unmanned rocket to this risky technique.
I suppose for Mr. Musk, inexperience is replacing the abundant safety protocols drilled into us after witnessing the Apollo 1 disaster. Astronaut safety is NASA’s number one priority on any space mission. There is no reason it should not be for private space travel, but commercial space companies like SpaceX play by different rules.
Most Americans would be surprised to learn that special interests in Washington representing commercial space companies have forbidden the Department of Transportation, which licenses commercial launch and reentry, from developing any human spaceflight safety standards for passengers.
This shortsighted legislative restriction means that billionaires profit and can’t be held accountable for injury or death of their passengers — even though we have decades of lessons learned from NASA to prevent potential incidents.
We owe it to future astronauts to remain diligent with our innovations and not blindly rush while possibly revisiting the mistakes we made decades ago.
Congress and the administration should overturn these shortsighted restrictions on commercial spaceflight safety standards, and NASA must ensure that before they put an astronaut on a commercial spacecraft that it lives up to the strict standards we have learned over the last 60 years of spaceflight.
Richard Hagar worked on every Apollo mission for NASA at the Kennedy Space Center as a spacecraft operator on the launch team, including for the Apollo 11 mission that went to the Moon. He lives in Tennessee.
SpaceX giant rocket ship was blown over and damaged by powerful winds of Musk BS hot air in Texas — and Elon Musk says repairs will take weeks
An illustration of SpaceX’s “test hopper,” an experimental stainless-steel ship. Though it won’t launch into space, the vehicle should help Elon Musk’s rocket company work on a larger Starship spacecraft for reaching Mars.Elon Musk/SpaceX via Twitter; Samantha Lee/Business Insider
Elon Musk’s rocket company, SpaceX, has built a prototype of a stainless-steel rocket ship in southern Texas.
People who live near the site reported on Wednesday morning that the vehicle, known as the “test hopper,” was blown over by powerful gusts of wind.
Musk and SpaceX confirmed those reports, saying the damage would take weeks to repair.
The test hopper is a squat version of a full-scale Starship, a spaceship that’s being designed to send people to Mars.
The top section of SpaceX’s shiny prototype of its giant Starship rocket fell over on Wednesday morning because of powerful winds.
“I just heard,” Elon Musk, the company’s founder, tweeted, confirming on-the-ground reports that the vehicle was no longer vertical.
He added: “50 mph winds broke the mooring blocks late last night & fairing was blown over. Will take a few weeks to repair.”
A SpaceX representative independently confirmed to Business Insider that the top portion of the vehicle — called the fairing or nosecone — had fallen over because of high winds. The representative declined to comment further.
SpaceX’s facility is at the southern tip of Texas. A local resident, who asked not to be named, said winds were gusting at about 50 mph for much of Tuesday and picked up early Wednesday.
“From about 2 to 5, it was nothing but rattling and metal and trees breaking. It felt like a hurricane,” the resident said. “Everything SpaceX did to get ready for this storm worked against them. It looked like they blocked the wind coming from the southeast, but the winds shifted in the night and came from the northeast — and that sucker went flying.”
Below is an image Musk shared in January of the fully integrated rocket. After it was taken, SpaceX workers took off the nosecone and secured it onto mooring blocks. (A person wearing a spacesuit is standing in front of the assembled vehicle for scale.)
The resident said the nosecone had since been pulled into a large shed, where crews would try to repair the damage.
“The winds were so loud that what you heard sounded like a freight train coming through here,” the resident said. “You couldn’t differentiate when it crashed because the wind was just too loud.”
Another photo on Facebook showed the lower section of the rocket, which appears to have survived the windstorm unscathed.
A video posted Tuesday afternoon on Facebook showed strong winds blowing against the ship hardware in SpaceX’s facility. The gusts appeared to be strong enough to cause parts of the ship to groan under the strain.
Why SpaceX built a stainless-steel prototype of a rocket ship
SpaceX has worked feverishly to build the prototype vehicle at its Texas facility since late last year. Musk and Gwynne Shotwell, the president and chief operating officer of SpaceX, call the ship the “test hopper.”
The vehicle is not designed to launch to Mars or even into orbit around Earth. Instead, the somewhat crude and windowless ship will rocket on “hops” that go no more than about 16,400 feet in the air, according to Federal Communications Commission documents.
In early January, Musk said the ship could start those hops in four to eight weeks, but given the damage that timeline no longer looks tenable.
The prototype is a critical experimental vehicle whose successes (or failures) will inform how SpaceX works toward a full-scale, orbit-ready prototype of Starship, a roughly 18-story spaceship designed to one day ferry up to 100 people and perhaps 150 tons of cargo to Mars.
Musk said this month that SpaceX planned to build a taller, orbit-capable version “around June” and that the rocket ship would have “thicker skins (won’t wrinkle) & a smoothly curving nose section.”
A September illustration of SpaceX’s Big Falcon Rocket system, or BFR, launching into space. Here, the spaceship is detaching from the booster.SpaceX
SpaceX engineers had planned to build Starship and its 19-story rocket booster, called Super Heavy, out of carbon-fiber composites. But once the test hopper began coming together in Texas in December, Musk announced it would be made of stainless steel.
Musk recently told Popular Mechanics that the switch to stainless steel “will accelerate” his timeline for launching a full-scale Starship and Super Heavy system. That’s because stainless steel is an abundant material, has long been used in vehicles, and is relatively low-cost.
Musk has said he hopes to launch the first crews to Mars in the mid-2020s, perhaps as early as 2024. He has also already introduced the person who may be the rocket ship’s first crewed passenger: the Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa, who plans to bring eight artists on a flight around the moon in 2023.
“I will do a full technical presentation of Starship after the test vehicle we’re building in Texas flies, so hopefully March/April,” Musk tweeted on December 22.
SpaceX Claims it Can’t Test Fire Rocket Due to Government Shutdown Despite Billions in Taxpayer Funding
Despite receiving billions of dollars in government funding, Elon Musk’s SpaceX is unable to perform a rocket test fire due to lack of government assistance since the recent shutdown.
Engadget reports that SpaceX, the space exploration company founded by Tesla CEO Elon Musk, has been unable to perform the static fire test of their new Falcon Heavy rocket due to lack of ground support from the U.S. Air Force’s s 45th Space Wing and NASA following the recent government shutdown. The static fire test of the Falcon Heavy rocket would have consisted of firing all 27 of the rocket’s engines as it is held down on a launch pad. This test is necessary to ensure all engines are operational before an actual rocket takeoff test which was set to happen at the end of January.
A SpaceX spokesperson told Engadget in a statement:
We remain hopeful that the Congress will quickly resolve their differences and put our partners in the Air Force and NASA back to doing their important work as soon as possible. This shutdown impacts SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy demonstration, which is critical for future NSS missions. It also impacts critical missions for our customers, including important international allies scheduled to launch shortly from Cape Canaveral and Vandenberg Air Force Base, as well as upcoming missions this spring to resupply the International Space Station.
Despite being a private company, SpaceX requires government assistance for nearly all of their rocket test launches and static fires. Three of Elon Musk’s companies, Tesla Motors, SolarCity, and SpaceX, have also received approximately $4.9 billion in funding from the U.S. government. The Los Angeles Times reported on SpaceX’s funding saying “On a smaller scale, SpaceX, Musk’s rocket company, cut a deal for about $20 million in economic development subsidies from Texas to construct a launch facility there. (Separate from incentives, SpaceX has won more than $5.5 billion in government contracts from NASA and the U.S. Air Force.)”
SpaceX had planned to continue the test fire despite the government shutdown but found themselves unable to operate without the assistance of the U.S. Air Force’s s 45th Space Wing. SpaceX told Engadget that all launch operations will be delayed until the civilian employees of the 45th Space Wing return to work.
Update — Citizens for the Republic, a PAC started by Ronald Reagan which is running an initiative called “Stop Elon from Failing Again” provided this comment to Breitbart Tech:
“Elon Musk is a phony and a fake. He is stealing billions from taxpayers because he gets good press from his fellow Millennials and because of his Washington lobbyists. Despite billions in profits, Musk is leaning so heavily on government subsidies and support that he can’t even test an engine without the taxpayer holding their hand. This is a lose-lose situation. We can’t continue to waste large amounts of taxpayer money on Elon Musk’s failed schemes. There needs to be a congressional investigation of Elon’s Musk’s continued waste and continued failures.”
Elon Musk’s Narcissistic SpaceX satellites have destroyed the sky for astronomers
Washington (AFP) – It looked like a scene from a sci-fi blockbuster: an astronomer in the Netherlands captured footage of a train of brightly-lit SpaceX satellites ascending through the night sky this weekend, stunning space enthusiasts across the globe.
But the sight has also provoked an outcry among astronomers who say the constellation, which so far consists of 60 broadband-beaming satellites but could one day grow to as many as 12,000, may threaten our view of the cosmos and deal a blow to scientific discovery.
The launch was tracked around the world and it soon became clear that the satellites were visible to the naked eye: a new headache for researchers who already have to find workarounds to deal with objects cluttering their images of deep space.
“People were making extrapolations that if many of the satellites in these new mega-constellations had that kind of steady brightness, then in 20 years or less, for a good part the night anywhere in the world, the human eye would see more satellites than stars,” Bill Keel, an astronomer at the University of Alabama, told AFP.
The satellites’ brightness has since diminished as their orientation has stabilized and they have continued their ascent to their final orbit at an altitude of 550 kilometers (340 miles).
But that has not entirely allayed the concerns of scientists, who are worried about what happens next.
Elon Musk’s SpaceX is just one of a several companies looking to enter the fledgling space internet sector.
To put that into context, there are currently 2,100 active satellites orbiting our planet, according to the Satellite Industry Association.
If another 12,000 are added by SpaceX alone, “it will be hundreds above the horizon at any given time,” Jonathan McDowell of the Harvard Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics told AFP, adding that the problem would be exacerbated at certain times of the year and certain points in the night.
“So, it’ll certainly be dramatic in the night sky if you’re far away from the city and you have a nice, dark area; and it’ll definitely cause problems for some kinds of professional astronomical observation.”
– Musk’s puzzling response –
The mercurial Musk responded to the debate on Twitter with contradictory messages, pledging to look into ways to reduce the satellites’ reflectivity but also saying they would have “0% impact on advancements in astronomy” and that telescopes should be moved into space anyway.
He also argued the work of giving “billions of economically disadvantaged people” high-speed internet access through his network “is the greater good.”
Keel said he was happy that Musk had offered to look at ways to reduce the reflectivity of future satellites, but questioned why the issue had not been addressed before.
If optical astronomers are concerned, then their radio astronomy colleagues, who rely on the electromagnetic waves emitted by celestial objects to examine phenomena such as the first image of the black hole discovered last month, are “in near despair,” he added.
Satellite operators are notorious for not doing enough to shield their “side emissions,” which can interfere with the observation bands that radio astronomers are looking out for.
“There’s every reason to join our radio astronomy colleagues in calling for a ‘before’ response,” said Keel.
“It’s not just safeguarding our professional interests but, as far as possible, protecting the night sky for humanity.”
ELON MUSK’S STARLINK DOMESTIC SPYING SATELLITES ARE HEADING STRAIGHT TO HELL
– Elon Musk wants to cover the Earth with “internet satellites” that send all of your data to Google and DNC spy servers
– Musk’s free, or cheap, satellite internet connections have already had their clone data of your internet activities pre-sold to marketing companies and spy groups
– China already wants to shoot them down because Musk plans to use them for political manipulation
SpaceX crisis as Elon Musk fires ‘at least seven’ of the senior management team working on his plan to create a network of satellites to beam the internet to Earth as more Musk projects fall prey to Musk sociopathy
Musk flew to the Seattle area in June for ‘meetings’ to fire the empoloyees
Within hours of landing, Musk had fired at least seven members of the program’s senior management team at the Redmond, Washington, office
Believed firings were over the pace of the rollout of the ‘Starlink’ system
Musk has goal of having Internet service available in 2020
SpaceX boss Elon Musk flew to Seattle in June to fire at least seven of the firm’s ‘senior management team’ working on his pet project to build a constellation of satellites to beam the internet to Earth.
Musk says his ‘space internet’ plan, called Starlink could eventually bring the internet to three billion people on Earth who currently can’t get online – and could also help fund his plans for a city on Mars.
However, he is believed to have become frustrated with the slow progress of the project – which so far has only launched two test satellites.
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Musk flew to Seattle in June to fire at least seven of the firm’s ‘senior management team’ working on his Starlink project to build a constellation of satellites to beam the internet to Earth
Within hours of landing, Musk had fired at least seven members of the program’s senior management team at the Redmond, Washington, office, the culmination of disagreements over the pace at which the team was developing and testing its Starlink satellites, according to the two SpaceX employees with direct knowledge of the situation, according to Reuters.
Known for pushing aggressive deadlines, Musk quickly brought in new managers from SpaceX headquarters in California to replace a number of the managers he fired.
Their mandate: Launch SpaceX’s first batch of U.S.-made satellites by the middle of next year, the sources said.
The management shakeup and the launch timeline, previously unreported, illustrate how quickly Musk wants to bring online SpaceX’s Starlink program, which is competing with OneWeb and Canada’s Telesat to be first to market with a new satellite-based Internet service.
SpaceX wants to launch satellite internet in 2019, with hopes to carry out the initial tests this year.
Each satellite in SpaceX’s planned group will weigh about 850 lbs (386 kg).
They will orbit at altitudes ranging from 715 miles (1,150 km) to 790 miles (1,275 km).
From this height each satellite will be able to cover an area on the ground about around 1,300 miles (2,120 km) wide.
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The satellites will orbit at altitudes ranging from 715 miles (1,150 km) to 790 miles (1,275 km). From this height each satellite will be able to cover an area on the ground spanning about around 1,300 miles (2,120 km). Pictured is SpaceX’s satellite internet proposal to the FCC
The project, which Musk previously said would cost at least $10 billion (£8.03 billion), was first announced in January 2015.
The plan hit a roadblock in September 2017 when US regulators expressed worries it will interfere with competing systems.
But in February 2018, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai proposed the approval of an application by SpaceX to provide the broadband services using satellites in the United States and worldwide.
Those services – essentially a constellation of satellites that will bring high-speed Internet to rural and suburban locations globally – are key to generating the cash that privately-held SpaceX needs to fund Musk’s real dream of developing a new rocket capable of flying paying customers to the moon and eventually trying to colonize Mars.
‘It would be like rebuilding the Internet in space,’ Musk told an audience in 2015 when he unveiled Starlink.
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SpaceX chief operating officer Gwynne Shotwell: She is seen as a safe pair of hands, something many believe Musk does not have at Tesla
‘The goal would be to have a majority of long-distance Internet traffic go over this network.’
But the program is struggling to hire and retain staff, the employees said.
WHO DID ELON MUSK FIRE?
A number of the managers had been hired from nearby technology giant Microsoft, where workers were more accustomed to longer development schedules than Musk’s famously short deadlines.
Although SpaceX is notoriously secretive over its employees, among the managers fired from the Redmond office was SpaceX Vice President of Satellites Rajeev Badyal, an engineering and hardware veteran of Microsoft Corp and Hewlett-Packard, and top designer Mark Krebs, who worked in Google’s satellite and aircraft division, the employees said.
Krebs declined to comment, and Badyal did not respond to requests for comment.
‘Rajeev wanted three more iterations of test satellites,’ one of the sources said.
‘Elon thinks we can do the job with cheaper and simpler satellites, sooner.’
Another senior manager that left SpaceX was Kim Schulze, who was previously a development manager at Microsoft, one of the people said.
Schulze did not respond to a request for comment.
Currently, about 300 SpaceX employees work on Starlink in Redmond, the sources said.
According to GeekWire, Musk said in 2015 the Redmond operation would have ‘probably several hundred people, maybe a thousand people’ after 3-4 years in operation.
So far this year, about 50 employees left the company ‘on their own accord,’ one of the SpaceX employees said, though the reason for those departures was unclear.
Overall, SpaceX employs more than 6,000 staff.
As of Tuesday, there were 22 job openings – including a job making espresso drinks – for the Redmond office, according to SpaceX’s website.
SpaceX spokeswoman Eva Behrend told Reuters the Redmond office remains an essential part of the company’s efforts to build a next-generation satellite network.
‘Given the success of our recent Starlink demonstration satellites, we have incorporated lessons learned and re-organized to allow for the next design iteration to be flown in short order,’ Behrend said.
She had no further comment on the reorganization or the launch window, but noted the strategy was similar to the rapid iteration in design and testing which led to the success of its rockets.
The management shakeup followed in-fighting over pressure from Musk to speed up satellite testing schedules, one of the sources said.
SpaceX’s Behrend offered no comment on the matter.
Culture was also a challenge for recent hires, a second source said.
A billionaire and Chief Executive Officer of Tesla, Musk is known for ambitious projects ranging from auto electrification and rocket-building to high-speed transit tunnels.
A Musk trust owns 54 percent of the outstanding stock of SpaceX, according to a 2016 U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filing, SpaceX’s most recent.
SpaceX has said it would launch its satellites in phases through 2024.
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Elon Musk’s SpaceX has launched the first of nearly 12,000 ‘Starlink’ satellites that could bring super-fast internet to billions of people. The devices will form the first in a constellation of thousands of satellites, designed to provide low-cost internet service from Earth’s orbit. Pictured is rocket as it launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California
It goal of having Internet service available in 2020 is ‘pretty much on target’ with an initial satellite launch by mid-2019, one of the sources said. OneWeb aims for a first launch between December and February 2019, while Telesat was targeting 2022 for broadband services.
SpaceX employees told Reuters that two Starlink test satellites launched in February, dubbed Tintin A and B, were functioning as intended.
The company is refining the orbital path of the satellites after the U.S. Federal Communications Commission, which oversees satellites in orbit, approved a request from SpaceX to expand Tintins’ altitude range, one of the sources said.
The FCC confirmed SpaceX’s modifications, which have not been reported previously, but declined further comment.
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Musk quickly brought in new managers from SpaceX headquarters in California (pictured) to replace a number of the managers he fired.
‘We’re using the Tintins to explore that modification,’ one of the SpaceX employee sources said.
‘They’re happy and healthy and we’re talking with them every time they pass a ground station, dozens of times a day.’
SpaceX engineers have used the two test satellites to play online video games at SpaceX headquarters in Hawthorne, California and the Redmond office, the source said.
‘We were streaming 4k YouTube and playing ‘Counter-Strike: Global Offensive’ from Hawthorne to Redmond in the first week,’ the person added.
WHAT’S NEXT FOR STARLINK?
In March, the FCC approved Musk’s plan to beam down Internet signals from 4,425 small satellites launched into standard low-Earth orbit – more than two times the total number of active satellites there presently.
One SpaceX engineer told Reuters the company has studied plans to add roughly 10,000 additional satellites after its first array is live to meet bandwidth demand in the coming 20 years.
Behrend declined to comment on the plans and referred to a previous FCC filing, which states an additional 7,518 satellites are under consideration. Such a move would keep it in the race to expand affordable high-speed Internet access to billions of people in rural or suburban areas globally.
The Satellite Industry Association, a lobby group, estimates the global market for satellite-based broadband and television services is worth $127.7 billion, dwarfing the roughly $5.5 billion satellite launch services market.
McLean, Virginia-based OneWeb is working to provide internet service from roughly 900 satellites after raising more than $2 billion from SoftBank, the Coca-Cola Company and others.
Telesat, backed by Loral Space & Communications Inc , said on Oct. 23 it conducted the first-ever live test of in-flight broadband via a satellite in low-Earth orbit, and was targeting 2022 for broadband services from a constellation of some 300 satellites.
SpaceX aims to provide Internet service by linking its satellites to ground stations and mountable terminals about the size of a pizza box at homes or businesses, according to the FCC filing.
The U.S. market for broadband is already dominated by several incumbent communications companies, including Comcast Corporation.
Comcast declined to comment on the potential new competition.
While SpaceX’s model of reusing rockets has generated cash, it is not enough to cover the roughly $5 billion cost to develop its Big Falcon Rocket that Musk wants one day to fly to Mars.
‘There had to be a much bigger idea for generating cash to basically realize the Mars plans,’ said one of the SpaceX employees.
‘What better idea than to put Comcast out of business?’
AFP
